Dr. Robert's Pataphysical Musings

RPM '09

2009-02-11T11:52:00.000-08:00

Just dropping a note to say that I'm putting tracks up from this year's RPM album (as yet untitled.) You can find 'em here at Pete's RPM Page.

More later...

-p

Puke!

2008-12-29T14:25:00.000-08:00

This is surely a sign of the end-times.

Jesus and I are a year older!

2008-12-28T22:56:00.000-08:00

Howdy, strangers! It seems a shame that I have not blogged since September, but you know me better than that, right? I'm not surprised at that! Anywho, Christmas was great. We survived the foot-plus snow in Seattle (yeah, a dusting of snow shuts this town down,) and headed up to Debbie's house. It was a joy to watch Annabel get into Christmas and run around asking "what's that" over and over again. She really is into shoes now, so every pair of shoes was magical. Christmas gets to be such a non-event in early adulthood, so having a child really kicks it back into the stratosphere. I was worried that there would be no Christmas this year due to the awful weather. It seems that everyone out here had some hitches in holiday plans because of the snow. Melissa got me Rock Band 2 for Christmas, which was stranded at Matthew and Heidi's place until yesterday. Melissa went to pick it up, and dropped Annabel off at Grandma's place so that we could have a baby-free night as well. We spent it playing Rock Band and heading out for an early birthday celebration at The Bohemian in West Seattle. We ate a bite and had a drink, and then in walked Nicole, Keaver, Ali, and John. We joined tables with them, and I hopped up to the piano in the place. There's nothing that I enjoy more than tickling ivories, so it was a blast to rip out some boogie-woogie and stride stuff on their old player piano. Sweet!

Today, for my official birthday, Melissa and I BOTH slept in. No "your turn with the baby". We had breakfast at home, and headed out to see "Frost/Nixon". Holy crap, that is a darn good film. We were pleasantly surprised at how funny and entertaining it was. Both leads did an incredible job in their roles. We met up with Matthew and Heidi, and headed up to Ballard for a stop at the comic shop and dinner at the Hi-Life. All in all, it was a great weekend.

In sadder news, a moment of silence is in order for our good old pal Cookie. She spent 15 years on earth, and was laid to rest on Saturday. i will miss her crazy shenanigans. I was out for coffee this evening, and a dalmatian dog went walking by. It was kind of like she was saying goodbye one last time. Sweet, that!

P.S. Thank you to all the folks who sent me a birthday message on Facebook. Rock Band party at my house?

New Oasis Review

2008-09-25T16:04:00.000-07:00

Sorry it’s been a while… there, I said it!

Man, I’ve been awash in new music lately. Let’s just say that it is feeling like the Brit-pop heyday of the nineties all over again. As of late, I’ve been digging new tunes from Paul Weller, The Verve, and Oasis. The Weller record is strange, but fine. It’s hard to believe that The Verve has been around almost 20 years, and we’ve just received their fourth studio album. If you dig the other three, the new one, Forth (oh, I get it…) will fit right in. With that aside, let’s get to the important matters.

So, I’m listening to an advance copy of Oasis’ new record, Dig Out Your Soul. Another album, another silly title that makes no sense. Reviews have been very slow in appearing on this record (granted it’s not out until October 6th,) but most interviewers who have heard tracks have been praising the boys for a return to form. I disdain anyone who says that a band has returned to form, because it implies that they’ve not developed in the years since their first albums, and that they slipped colossally from the heights of those days. Oasis never really fell from that peak, they just made slow progress for the last few albums. Their last LP was well received critically, and it certainly made a lot of people interested in hearing what this new LP was going to sound like. In a nutshell, it sounds quite good and quite different.

To say that Oasis has had a rough-go over the last decade is an understatement. They inherited the reputation for following in the footsteps of rock greatness and excess, sharing that lineage with acts like The Who, Led Zeppelin, and Guns and Roses. Very few acts have the talent to back up rock’s excessive dark side. While the world was tuning in to the crappy pop-slosion of the ‘90s and early 2000s, Oasis slowly ground away at a return to anthemic rock. I still reference their first record as probably the best debut record of all time. Their second LP blew away an notion of a sophomore slump. By the time they dropped #3, the cocaine snowstorm (ala Stone Roses) started to blow its fierce winds upon the land of Gallagher. Not content to simply overdub a few guitar solos on top of each other, Noel wanted 37 tracks of him playing at once. The idea was to make some kind of neo-Wall of Sound record to blow out all the stops. What resulted was a record with brilliant singles and much filler. The fact that they hardly ever play a single song from the record live is a testament to what must be the internal feeling about that era. Not wanting to sound negative about it (as I really do like that record,) let’s just say that “All Around the World” more than paid for the bloat on the rest of the record. Literally. I still hear it on AT&T commercials… I digress.

Stuck with a poorly received album, founding members quit. They still made plenty of money touring, and still had some cred with fans and critics. The following records were a document of a band in transition. There were moments of brilliance with their new members and somewhat stripped-down sound. I remember listening to albums like Heathen Chemistry and Standing on the Shoulder of Giants with a grimace. I had to make plenty of excuses in my head to get through them. In the years since, I’ve fallen in love with those records because I stopped expecting them to equal the brilliance of their first two LPs. Enter Don’t Believe the Truth. Expecting another by-the-numbers album, I was totally floored to hear the band in very strong form. This was the record that I was waiting for. I could pull it out and play it for non-fans and feel like there needn’t be excuses. I saw them on that tour (as with almost all of their US tours,) and was amazed at how it worked so well live. Mind you, their drummer was Ringo Starr’s son. Young Mr. Starkey was also a member of The Who, having been trained by Keith Moon himself. As much as I loved Alan White, Zak was amazingly better. He survived until halfway through this record, before quitting for good. Sad, that.

I’m sitting here listening to the new record which will drop shortly. One thing is for sure, Noel’s claim that they were throwing out the typical rules of songwriting, rings true. The album is very groove focused. There are definite shades of Noel’s work with Chemical Brothers. I just am not hearing a single on the entire record, which is about the best compliment that I can level at it. That sounds negative, but if I’m not hearing a single, it means that the album works as a whole, with consistent quality. There are no attempts to sound like any other record of theirs. Maybe it’s due to the fact that they switched labels, but it is very welcome to have a cohesive and well-made album from this band again. Overall, the album is very psychedelic without relying too much on forced lyrics about plasticine and rocket ships. Everything down to the artwork suggests that they were going for the psychedelic feel this time out. Does it work? For damn sure. In comparison to The Beatles, this album arrives as a kind of drone-y and heavier version of the Pepper/Mystery Tour era.

Let’s take it by the numbers:

1) “Bag it Up” – Nice slinky psych-pop opener. You can hear the total shift in sound here. Right from the get-go, most of the classic Oasis elements have been thrown out of the window. It’s immediate and claustrophobic at the same time. The care that they put into the grooves on this record really show how far they’ve come as a band. The beauty of this record is in the rhythm section. It is sad to see Zak gone, because he and Andy Bell are so interlocked on this album. The end of the track dips into The Beatles territory (surprise,) which sounds very apt.

2) “The Turning” – The groove continues. They’ve gone into very dark territory for this track. The layered keyboard work here is quite nice. Setting tone for the rest of the album, it is a long song, which relies more on mood and groove to keep the listener interested. Oh, it ends with a bit of “Dear Prudence”… fun!

3) “Waiting for the Rapture”- Holy crap! Once you’ve heard the opening to this track, you know that you’re in for something quite different than normal Gallagher fare. This album is very minimal in so many ways. This track is pure minimal joy. I’m a sucker for Noel’s vocals, and this song has some fine falsetto work. Overall, it’s a very minimal-yet-swampy T-Rex vibe.

4) “The Shock of Lightning”- This is the first single. The angular melody is gorgeous and raw. Some typically silly lyrics (Love is a time machine up on a silver screen… err… yep,) but it sounds so outrageously anthemic that you cannot resist just bobbing your head along.

5) “I’m Outta Time” – The requisite Oasis ode to Lennon, including samples of John from an interview. Liam so desperately wants to BE John Lennon. Noel makes fun of him for it, but Liam’s taking the “proof is in the pudding” approach. He really has come a long way toward being a great songwriter, and this tune is absolutely gorgeous. It reminds me of Free As a Bird and Real Love in so many ways. Mellotron ahoy!

6) “(Get Off Your) High Horse Lady”- This one is quite interesting. It’s basically a rewrite of “Hi Heel Sneakers” mixed with the “Give Peace a Chance” rhythm track. When it really kicks in at about 1:40, once again we are in non-typical Oasis territory. The minimalism is confusingly brilliant. Maybe Noel should have been stripping it down years ago.

7) “Falling Down” – This track is very Chemical Brothers. It really reminds me of “Setting Sun”, which Noel wrote with the Chems. It slows down that track and goes for a beautiful and creepy vibe. I’ve been dying for a solo record by Noel, and this is what I would imagine it to sound like. Intriguing. It’s funny how George Harrison was tapping this kind of songwriting style back with “Within You Without You”. Lennon did it with “Tomorrow Never Knows” as well. Those two were… advanced.

8) “To Be Where There’s Life”- Aw hell, I’m gonna draw a comparison to Kula Shaker here. This is what KS could have been if they did not get lost in the joss stick mist of Krishna consciousness. This kind of reminds me getting stoned in college and grooving to “Raagy One” by Kula Shaker. This is probably the best put together tune on the record, sitars and all.

9) “Ain’t Got Nothin’” – Damn this track is gritty. Perhaps the weakest of the bunch, it is what Mikey would describe a “Hauptschule”. Nothing clever or deep about it, it must be fun to play on stage.

10) “The Nature of Reality” – I thick blues, it is riff-rock to the core. If you go for that sort of thing, have at it…

11) “Soldier On”- Hey, it’s “Mambo Sun” from T-Rex and “Better Man” from Heathen Chemistry! Well, after that intro part is gone, it is quite dreamy and spooky. It’s a nice finish to the album. Liam sounds very good on this track.

I very much like this record. Psychedelic music has been threaded through the decades since the ‘60s, and this is another take on the genre. It really is a departure from the Oasis formula, and bodes well for their next release. You do owe it to yourself to pick up a copy if you admire dark and moody psychedelic albums.

Harde-har-har

2008-07-23T13:01:00.000-07:00

Follow the link and spend the 30 seconds to complete this game. I assure you that the song over the end credits will make you fall out of your chair...

You Have to Burn the Rope

No Words Can Describe This!

2008-07-09T12:17:00.001-07:00

HULK SMASH!

2008-06-23T22:03:00.000-07:00

Quick note... saw the Hulk movie yesterday, and loved it. I researched a bit and heard that there are quite a few hidden Easter eggs in the film. Google "G4 hulk interview", watch at about 2:58-3:00, and you can see (by the HUlk's right hand) the figure of Captain America with his shield quite clearly. You may need to watch a few dozen times, but it is for sure there. WOW! Dorky...

Wrap-up from last night.

2008-06-13T12:18:00.001-07:00

Last night's show went well. Aside from a broken saxophone (fixed with tape,) the show went well. It always feels good to give back to the community, and this year's cause was pretty great. Considering the amount of homeless people in Seattle, anything to ease their burden is fantastic. Thanks to all of you who made it out for a fun evening.

Other than that, I'm now hopelessly addicted to Facebook, so find me on there. I just wish they had more music options.

Noise for the Needy

2008-06-12T14:49:00.000-07:00

realizing that my previous post with this title was blank (duh,) I thought I'd rectify that. We are playing tonight at the Sunset up in Ballard at 9 PM. The show is one of the benefit concerts for Noise for the Needy this year. All this leads me to give a piece of advice to all you rockstars in training. DON't SHAVE YOUR HEAD BEFORE A GIG!!! I'm remembering the last time I shaved my head and then played a show. Let's have an equation of what will happen, shall we?

1 hot venue + 1 bald head + hard work = nothing to stop sweat from rolling into one's eyes. Ouch!

Maybe I should rock the headband?

Dig it...

Autumn Island by The True Bugs

2008-06-09T16:25:00.000-07:00

Every once in a while, I like to slip in an album review on this old blog. I’ve toyed with the idea of just having a review-only blog, but that’s another battle for another day. Anywho, I’ve been addicted to this album for the last week now, and it’s time to shine a light on a great album from 2007. I am speaking of Autumn Island, the swansong by The True Bugs. Let dissect…

The now defunct True Bugs have made a great rock record. The music grabs you from the get-go due to the immediacy of the songs coupled with supremely evocative lyrics. Mike Gervais has a great way of weaving little vignettes of heartbreak and resignation into beautiful self-contained universes full of political fire, social disillusionment, and an overwhelming adoration of the natural world.

The album is coming from a very specific corner of the post-“American Century” landscape. Anyone half-conscious of the current political climate who was born during the seventies or eighties will immediately latch on to the coming-of-age in modern America theme of the album. In less capable hands, this could have turned out to be a preachy mess. If you need a comparison, listen to early Springsteen or Mellencamp. Mike carves out the same territory by making intensely personal and detailed observations from the point of view of very real characters who inhabit his 3 minute slices of life. The power of all three as songwriters is that they bring you directly into the lives that they are examining without pretense or judgment.

The lyrics are dense and beautiful. Here are some random lines from the record (as best as I can transcribe…) I’ll arrange them as sentences, because they sound as if they should be in the middle of a novel.

Cars drive by on a tandem-highway. Paul and I work on my bike in the driveway
‘til Diane says “come in I made some dinner darling.”

Spiced tea steeped in its cup on the table. Sirens scream out a warning as flashes burn and as ashes fall on land that’s known a thousand fathers.

Silently she wipes the grease off of the cutting board, smiling as she’s dying for another hour more.

Drops cling to drops as the air begins cooling and fall through the mid-Autumn sky.

Open the door - handle creaks as it turns - to newspaper smell and dry eyes.

And no, he’s not coming back again, letters can’t bring a reply. Desert sand drains his memory, staining rocks red as they dry.

Cracked into wakefulness - coffee and corridors -the river is rusty today.

See what I mean? The man is no slouch when it comes to filling his songs with visceral details.

All this talk of the lyrics doesn’t mean that musically there is something lacking. The album straddles the territory of Neil Young and ‘90s rock. Fans of Wilco (the “real” Wilco, of AM/Being There/ Summerteeth fame) will feel right at home. It’s all very competent sounding, with great little flourishes here and there. One of my favorite tunes on the record is “Morning After”. It’s all very carnival-esque with flashes of Dark Side of the Moon-like saxophone in the opening. Much like other songs on the record, it’s a twist on familiar conventions of rock and roll. There’s enough to feel comfortable about in the music, but there’s always a bit of something extra thrown in. “Morning After” falls into a very slow blue-beat feel at times before shifting back into gorgeously slow guitar passages. Many a modern band could learn more about playing with slow intensity by listening to this record than thousands of others. Not for one second is any of the power or passion lost because people aren’t screaming and playing at breakneck speeds.

Overall, there’s not much to dislike about this record. In fact, it’s damn fine. It’s a very smart album without being too clever. In a strange sort of way, I would love to sit down with the Bush administration and throw this record on. I think that it would be a very revealing picture of where we are as a result of their policies and practices. Yeah, it really is that political in its undertones, but as I said before, in less capable hands, it could have been too preachy. What we’re left with is a fantastic snapshot of one writers take on modern America.

Come on already

2008-06-06T15:42:00.000-07:00

Here in Seattle, it feels like September. It's June, and the heat is still on. Sigh. Oh well, another cup of tea should do the trick...

Taking stock and making new music

2008-05-23T12:01:00.001-07:00

I finally got around to starting my next solo record last night. I have most of the material written already, so all that's left is recording. I smashed through the first song, "Call Me Ishmael" yesterday. I've still got a bit of vocal work on it, but I'll post it to my myspace page tonight. There are some songs left over from The Curious Flying Machine as well as some brand new ones.

Speaking of solo stuff, I started cataloging all of my songs from about 2003 onward. I have around 100 songs recorded since then, but I know that I'm missing a bunch. The scary thing is that I know I've "lost" a bunch because I never recorded them. It sucks to look through old notebooks and find lyrics or chords to something that was never recorded. I guess Noel Gallagher was right. If you go to sleep and wake up the next day having forgotten the previous day's song, well, it was crap anyway!

All of the cataloging was pretty interesting. Looking at the songs, there were definitely threads of ideas that were dropped. Theoretically, I could go back and assemble all of the stuff into the intended albums/EPs, but it's great to just have an Excel spreadsheet listing all of the locations, names, and details for the last 5 years of creative output. Here's some of what I've found:

Clever Love EP - recorded in 2003, and reviewed on Threeimaginarygirls.com
Track List:
Clever Love
The Unwritten Letter
Birthday Waltz
Silly Boy Dreams
Weeping Wall
I'll Get You (by The Beatles of course)

Perhaps the Next Day EP - recorded in 2003 and intended as a follow-up to the previous EP. I never threw this one together, and some of the material landed on Shutdown Vol. 1
Track List

Perhaps the Next Day
Proof
The Grand Exit
Lonely Surf
Little Things That Happen
In the Meantime
Crying (Roy Orbison cover)

Shutdown Vol. 1 LP - I have a real soft-spot for this album. There was so much material recorded, that I found 4-5 unused backgrounds along with rough demos for almost all of the songs as well. I never did finish designing the cover for the album, but imagine me on the beach, a surfboard, and a typically rainy Seattle day. Fun! If I were all famous and stuff, someone could make one of those outrageously expensive "Super-Deluxe" versions of this album with the second disc full of unused songs and drastically different demo versions. The (d) next to a track name means that there is a different demo version as well.
Track List

The Mighty Crash
Repeat History / Godspeed (d)
Perhaps the Next Day (d)
Slide (d)
Ghost Talk (written with Matt Gervais from Curtains)
Time
Shutdown
Tourism
Lonely Surf
Bad Words (d)
Surfer Blues
SfL (written after the death of my Grandmother, Louise. It stands for Song for Louise)

Unused songs:

4
Wicked
Normandy
Hole In Your Heart
The Moon Was Out (vocals only doo-wop song... someday I'll finish it)

The City of Good Neighbors LP - This one is the first "cohesive" album I've ever written. Everything on it was written specifically for it. Some of this stuff ended up on the first Curtains For You record. It's pretty psychedelic at times, and very poppy at others.
Track List

A Beginning
The Big One
The Pugilist
King for a Day
Insomnia Can Kill You
The Diagnosis
She Married the Earth
Futurebright
The Ballad of Gavril Ivolgin
Small Change
The Island Life
Skating with Wilma
(HIDDEN TRACK) The City of Good Neighbors

After CoGN, I started to write a straight ahead pop record intended to be called Dumb Angel. I never finished the album, and Dumb Angel wasn't even written until my last record for the RPM Challenge. Here is what I had for the album.
Track List

Halictidae
Hummingbird Blues
Surprise
The New Deal
Licorice Skies
Watches & Trains
The Missing Piece
6/5

Next comes my last LP, The Curious Flying Machine I've blogged about it before, so not too much to say...
Track List

Roadtrip to Disaster
The Great Land Grab
They Could Have Been Bonnie & Clyde
Just Like That, She's Gone
Sal's Wild Years
Sal & Ramona
Safety Glass Blues
Dumb Angel
Blueprints
I Can't Explain
The Curious Flying Machine

The next record has these songs so far

Call Me Ishmael
Selling The Future
Briars & Brambles
Apex Blues
Ballad of Molly McGinty
The Song of the Ants
What it Takes to Get By

So, in my hyper-OCD way, it feels good to have accomplished a pile of stuff in the last 5 years. Maybe someday I'll go back and finish some of this stuff. Until then, they all live on my hard drives collecting virtual dust.

Noise for the Needy

2008-05-23T12:01:00.000-07:00

Album Endorsement

2008-05-22T14:06:00.000-07:00

I don't normally endorse many modern albums, but this one's a no-brainer. You owe it to yourself to go and pick up Freedom Wind by The Explorers Club. Find them here.

Also, they will be playing Chop Suey on the 17th of June. Wanna go?

Update the damn thing already!

2008-05-21T14:33:00.000-07:00

I know, I know, no updates in a while. Here's the scoop:

Melissa and I left Annabel with Grandma D on Saturday so that we could go out with Doris and Chris. We took in a showing of Iron Man (AWESOME!) and then went off to the most unfortunately-named place in America (well, besides Bunghole Liquors in Boston,)the Beveridge Place Pub. Try explaining where you are going to someone over the phone. They will frantically be googling "beverage place pub", and ending up with nada. Anywho, it was a blast to get out of the house without the little one in tow.

Speaking of the little one, Annabel is just shy of 8 months, and she is displaying super-genius powers already. She's been crawling for a long while now, pulling herself up on furniture, and has identified me repeatedly as "Da Da". Next week, she's probably going to balance my checkbook. Here is a shot of her conducting static experiments while smartly wearing protective gear.

Other than that, I heard the demos from Brian Wilson's next song-cycle, That Lucky Old Sun. It is quite good. It reminds me of Orange Crate Art, which was a great song, but a terrible album (thanks Van Dyke!) It should be released in September, and will no doubt be compared to sMiLe for its content and style.

The Curtains record is moving along. We are hoping to drop it sometime around the end of July.

Sony GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

2008-05-09T14:30:00.000-07:00

Let's start this post by saying that there are two companies that I have an all-consuming white-hot hatred of. Apple is one, and Sony is the other. I'll leave Apple alone, namely because they owe me $500 right now, and I don't want to get iScrewed out of my refund. They already iScrewed me for an extra $130 plus $8 in fees this week. Once they sort out the financial hoo-hah, then I'll proceed to rip on them. For now, let's turn our focus on Sony...

Sony has built a reputation on making over-priced gear that only plays nice with other Sony equipment/software. Going back to the days of Beta vs. VHS, Sony has been trying to make the world see that Sony alone will solve all of our technical problems/needs. I've owned TVs, Discmans (should I put a copyright on that... I'm sure Sony would want that,) gaming platforms, and countless other little doodads. They have usually been over-priced compared to other similar products, but there was always some kind of implied quality to a Sony product. For some reason, Sony products break down more for me than any other brand, so the quality may not be so great. Granted, I'm a little bitter because I own an HDDVD player, but that is not shading my opinion too much. I understand that Sony was angry over losing Beta (still,) and that they basically just paid the movie studios MONDO amounts of money to make themselves successful. I admit that "buying friends" sucks in real life, but it sure works in business. I digress...

I am the proud owner of a great little HD camcorder from Sony. It was a very generous gift to Melissa and I shortly before the birth of our daughter. I have spent countless hours of my life with video camera in hand, coupled with a good amount of time with both linear and non-linear editing systems from broadcast tapes to DV. I don't do it for a living, but I'm the guy that often gets tapped to assemble and edit things when people around me have footage. That said, I fell in love with our camera because the video looked so fantastic. When hooked up to ye olde HDTV, this camera rocks! Unfortunately, it comes with some serious caveats.

The first thing that I noticed about shooting in HD was that if the lighting was perfect, the shot was perfect. Daytime light means good HD footage. Conversely, "poor" light (anything less than a bright sunlit day) means that the footage is so noisy that it is almost unusable. I would love to have a film crew setting up lights around me as I document the everyday awesomeness of having a child, but that isn't practical. Having a camera to catch the first time that one's child does this hugely random and monumental leap in development is great. Having to have a professional lighting setup to come out with decent looking footage is impossible. I shot our proceedings last weekend in the studio in pretty low-light conditions. Studios are dark places. The footage shot looks grainier than if we had shot it on 8mm. Now that seems like a great effect, but when it's not intentional, I get angry. Grr.. Hulk no like camera noise!

The straw that broke this camel's back is the fact that Sony wants to shoot video in its own format which is incompatible with EVERYTHING except for the piece of shit software that comes with the camera. I have thousands of dollars worth of editing software, and I have to use something that looks like it was designed for Windows 95 . All that it allows is looking at the footage... not editing it. Also, I have a pretty beefy rig to watch the video on, and the included software cannot even run the video from an internal hard-drive without choppiness and audio mis-matches. When I found a plugin for other media players, they did just fine. Even Windows Media Player can do a better job than the software made for the camera. Put that aside, and you're stuck with footage in some Sony-only format called m2ts. They will allow you to convert it all to Mpeg2, but the audio is still in some exotic Sony-only style, so all that can be done is to watch the footage (hopefully) and not edit it. Thank you, Sony!

Having a mountain of footage means that I need some kind of slick workflow to get it ready to be edited or archived. Having to convert each file (thereby doubling the space it takes on the hard-drive) means countless hours wasted waiting for the footage to be "ready" to use. Sony refuses to let go once again, and the consumer suffers. I feel sorry for the people who bought cameras similar to this and have no clue as to what to do with the footage. Even backing it up to a DVD to watch on the TV requires hours of internet research, experimentation, and technical know-how. Mom and Pop America are not going to have the patience for that. They suggest that you plunk down big bucks for Vegas, their own editing suite. Of course, they fail to mention that Vegas does not work with the format particularly well. Sony drops the ball just to be totally in control once again. Whether it is their penchant for making goofy Sony-only batteries (that are impossible to find,) or their love of walling themselves off from the rest of technology land, it is time for Sony Corporation to stop being cocky assholes about their proprietary hardware/software. Even Apple, obsessed with locking down every piece of hardware and software it makes, still bows to the public now and again. Sony just doesn't get it.

Don't get me wrong, I dearly love the camera when it works. It takes breathtakingly great HD video. It has outstanding battery life, a HUGE hard-drive, and hooks up to my television with ease. Even the built in mic sounds good. It's just that when I shoot some footage, I would like to know that it can exist outside of the camera it was shot on. I would like to load up my copy of Adobe Premiere, and be able to use said footage.

Aside form the doom and gloom, I've edited together about 20 minutes of "making of" from the sessions. I'm intending to get about 50 minutes of footage into some kind of cohesive film about this new album that we are doing. The eventual plan is that we are going to rent out the Jewel Box Theater to show the film and then play a private show for friends and family. I would love it if we did some sort of formal dress-up affair. Sounds fun, right?

Here's a peek behind the curtain(s)...

2008-05-04T10:00:00.000-07:00

Tired... ZzzzZZzZZ

2008-05-04T00:59:00.000-07:00

Well, the lads and I are in the studio this weekend recording our next LP. That means that anyone wishing to get in contact with me should just wait until Monday. Our first day in the studio was uber-productive. We laid down 6(!) tracks today. That's darn good for a a day in the studio. We are recording at London Bridge here in Seattle. My favorite thing about this record so far is that we are recording old-school. That means live in the studio. That means if one of us screws up a take, we can't use it. That's how records were made before the days of digital. We're laying it down to 2 inch tape as well. How sweet is that? It all feels very '60s right now. Other than Oasis, I cannot think of one modern band that still records live in studio... well, except for Mudcrutch, but that's a record review for anbother day! All in all we are all very tired but very pleased with how this monster is turning out.

I'm trying to document as much as possible on the old DV camera, but studios don't make for sexy TV. In fact, recording studios are pretty much the most boring place to be for 90% of one's time there. It's the 10% when the red light is on that counts...

Man, I'll get over Brian Wilson one of these days...

2008-04-30T23:50:00.001-07:00

So, as the title suggests, I'm stuck in Wilson land yet again. I picked up Sunflower/Surf's Up used at Easy St. Records and proceeded to bash the two of them without mercy on the ride home. WRONG! Well, at least half-wrong. I am seriously starting to put Sunflower upon the pedestal of Beach Boys awesomeness. Serously, I'm starting to think that "This Whole World" is one of Brian's best songs EVER! Admittedly, I'm a total music dork, but the man can pack more musical development in two minutes of song than anyone I've ever heard. Go and iTunes that sucker right now... I dare you! Anywhen, the rest of the album is very solid. The only hitches are that "Add Some Music to Your Day" (the single) is really poor, and that "Forever" was sung by Uncle Jesse on Full House not once, but twice. Does anyone want to help me beat up Mike Love yet? It's sad really, because "Forever" is so goll-darn beautiful. I'm poised to steal the whole na-na-na background vocals for my next tune.

Speaking of next tunes, I've got a new one rolling around my brain. I'll post it up as soon as I demo it. In other music news, Curtains will be heading into the studio to record the next record this weekend. I'll post some pictures and/or snippets next week.

Oh, Annabel has a new tooth to be celebrated. Huzzah! You should head on over to Melissa's blog to see a cute picture of Annabel with her hearing gear on. 'Nuff said for now...

Paging Peter?

2008-04-24T14:23:00.000-07:00

Where have I been lately? Sheesh, every time I start a blog the promise of frequent updates seems to evaporate rather quickly. Let's play catch-up, shall we?

- I went paintballing for the first time last weekend, and I have a bruise the size of Miami on my left thigh. It's moving from purple to yellow, so that's a good thing... I think. Ryan (the birthday boy and impetus for paintball) was driven there blindfolded, and was really quite pleased. Fun!

- In a sleep-deprived stupor, I nearly sliced a finger on my left hand off while doing dishes. Today is day 2 without a bandage on it, and I'm glad that my healing ability (while not quite Wolverine level) is pretty darn fast.

- Melissa, Annabel, and I went to the beach with the Hales a couple of weekends ago when it was 80 degrees here in Seattle. One week later, it was snowing. Yes, snowing.

-Speaking of snow, Curtains For You had a snowball fight before taking the stage at The Comet last Friday. We played a frantic short set before giving the stage over to the boys in Apple War. They were quite good, and had a 300 pound organ in tow which had a Leslie speaker and a Moog built in. Wow...

- Speaking of Curtains, we had a hilarious photo shoot last night. It involved costume changes and meat. Melissa and Annabel also attended, and little baby Annabel made it into a few of the band shots.

That's mostly what has been happening as of late. A few things that have been stealing brain power away from me as of late are Jim Noir's excellent new album, Rainbow Six Vegas 2, and finally getting around to finishing Dies the Fire. It's not a great book, but is has some fun moments. And now for a random picture of Dr. Strange, because I just got around to watching that new movie about him, and just got volume three of essential Dr. Strange form Amazon the other day.

What strange convergence of the universe is providing this karma?

2008-04-02T14:45:00.000-07:00

It seems that we had a careful eye at the Tractor last week. Check this link out. It is good to know that the reviewer was just as displeased with the second band that night. Ouch, it was like Coldplay and Keane had a kid that was raised by one of those machines that generates soothing sounds of waves. Anywho, what an ace review! Thank you universe...

It's up!

2008-04-01T13:16:00.001-07:00

Here is my shot at the top...

NPR = Now Pete Radio

2008-04-01T09:25:00.000-07:00

For those of you who have not heard the news, yesterday I was contacted by Robin Hilton from All Songs Considered on NPR. They are featuring artists from this years RPM Challenge in the month of April, and I was chosen to be the first! I tried not to sound like a total idiot in my interview, so it will be fun to see what they end up using. I'll give you all more details as they become available.

Upcoming show at the Tractor

2008-03-24T11:37:00.001-07:00

Just a quick note, we are headlining at the Tractor in Ballard this Thursday (the 27th.) We got some minor press, as both the Seattle Times and the Post Intelligencer list the show as a "critic's pick" for the week! *edit* The Seattle Weekly lists it as a Top Pick as well. It's been a while since we have played the Tractor, so come on down and see us... please... pretty please?

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr...

2008-03-14T10:41:00.000-07:00

For the second time in my life, my car window was smashed and nothing was stolen. What is the point of breaking someone's car window if you don't steal something? I'm totally unwise about this type of thing, and the vandal could have made off with at least my car stereo and a CD or two. Anyway, the score is this :

Peter = -$325. 00
Universe = + 1 in karmic debt

I'm gonna collect on that someday!

Strangefolk has arrived...

2008-03-07T09:27:00.000-08:00

After nearly a decade, one of my favorite bands from my college days has returned. Kula Shaker just had its domestic release of their third album last week, and it's one of those good news/bad news albums. The good news is that the band sounds exactly as they did when they released their second album in '99. They have retained their penchant for psychedelic pop flavored with Eastern influences. The band reunited (minus Jay Darlington as noted in a previous post,) and they still sound as if no time has passed. They are all hardcore vegans and espouse a philosophy of clean living with daily meditation, so the rigors of a rock and roll lifestyle has not touched any of the lot. Vocals are still sweet, Crispian Mills (Hayley's son) is still fast and furious on the guitar, and the songwriting is still pitch perfect pop. Here is where the problem creeps in.

As a concept, Kula Shaker always worked. Against the overwhelming tide of guitar-driven Britpop, they offered enough of a unique texture that they stood apart from the rest of the post Oasis/Blur imitators. In a crowded field, full of bands like Cast or Ocean Colour Scene, Kula Shaker stood out as some of the only people on the scene actually having fun. Then their second record came out. It was cranky, poorly sequenced, unevenly produced, and was way too political/mystical for most casual listeners to latch on to. It also suffered from one of my least favorite musical tricks. Rick Rubin was asked to produce one song on the record. That's like having Phil Spector or George Martin sit in the producer's chair for a number. On paper it sounds great, but in practice, it doesn't work. Inevitably, the Rubin song is always chosen as the single. Kula shaker followed the formula and released that particular track as the first single from the new record. I can remember going online in '98 and listening to the track streamed online. I was horrified for the actual album to come out. The song was terrible. The production was terrible. When the album arrived, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the rest sounded great. Sounded, I said. The album itself was not great. Barring a couple of really excellent songs (Shower Your Love, Great Hosannah, Mystical Machine Gun,) it was a supremely shaky record.

All that aside, I saw them at The Metro in Chicago in '99 weeks before they called it quits. I was amazed at how great they sounded live, so my shock at their demise was immediate. Here was a competent band which sounded like a cross between Hendrix and George Harrison with a dash of McCartney. Here was a band who had just walked away from the sophomore slump that every band faces (are you ready for that, Curtains? hehe) Fast forward to 2008. We now have a new Kula Shaker record. As I said above, here's where the problem creeps in.

The biggest problem with the record is not the quality of the material, the production, or performance. It lies in the fact that they made the logical follow-up to Peasants Pig & Astronauts. This record should have come out in 2000 or 2001. It sounds as if all of the development of pop music in the 2000s has been ignored. It is a very safe record for them. Treading upon the hallowed ground of "playing it safe", Kula Shaker has made a disappointingly insignificant record. I'm absolutely pleased to own it. I will still pop it in the player 5 years from now for some of the tracks, but overall I was expecting some growth in the last 9 years.

Overall, it's pretty good. Safe, but enjoyable.

Dates Set for new Curtains Record

2008-03-05T10:57:00.001-08:00

Howdy all,
After some debate, we are most likely scrapping the earlier sessions for the latest Curtains disc. We went into the studio last year (and recorded for a week in Ocean Shores) in preparation for this album, but we want to start over. It's not that we disliked the tracks or the direction that we were headed in, we just want to get a different sound for this record than when we started. It's just fodder for the next installment of Bootlegs For You. Anywho, we are set to head into the studio the first week of May. Hopefully this means the record will be released in the summer. Speaking of the Bootlegs series, there's enough material now for another disc, so stay tuned for that.

We will be playing The Sunset this Saturday, so head on up to Ballard. Also, don't forget about the Tractor show at the end of the month (the 27th.)

It's Away!

2008-03-01T08:34:00.000-08:00

The Eagle has taken off. The black pig flies at midnight. Err... my album is officially off to RPM headquarters. I recorded the title track last night and hastily threw it on as a bonus track. The funny thing is that the last track is an early Beach Boys pastiche number. I've had a cold all week, and had to record this suprememly vocal-heavy song with my sinuses not cooperating. It's apparent that something is going on with my voice for only one part of the song. It's this over-the-top cheesy spoken word part hehe. Very dramatic in my cold voice! All in all, I got 11 tracks done with a running time of 36:11. Now back to my former life...

It's finished!

2008-02-26T11:28:00.000-08:00

Ladies and gentlemen, please direct your attention to the center ring!

I've finished the album, and here is the cover. It has been an insane month, but ten tracks were finished. I would have loved to do more (and I just may sneak one more on,) but the challenge is over. I'm pressing up a super limited run of these, which will be signed and numbered (steady boy... keep that ego in check) for distribution to friends and family. May I also add that the RPM community is fantastic. I've learned tons from their forums. Every participant that I came into contact with was amazingly constructive and friendly. I cannot wait to hear some of the other albums that were completed.

In other news, Curtains For You will be playing on the 8th of March at Sunset up in Ballard. We will also be headlining the Tractor on the 27th. If you are on the fence about which show to go to, head to the Tractor, as we would love to have a huge turnout for that show. It's been a while since a Tractor gig, and this time it will be more that Matt, Nick, and I bashing away at guitar, accordion, and ukulele. God, that was a weird show. Do-be-do, progress is continuing on our next record. We are rehearsing to just go in and record the record in a couple of days in the studio. Not that there won't be monstrous over-dubs, but not as many as last time. This record will be louder, faster, and more raucous than the last. Here is a track-list (not in order) as of last night:

Dead World
Licorice Skies
Roadtrip to Disaster
Red Red Rose
Catacombs
Small Change
The Clanging of the Masses
An as-of-yet untitled slinky pop number by Matt (Everly Bros. vs. Buddy Holly vs. Kodachrome by Paul Simon) on which I get to play bass!
Dumb Angel
Just Like That, She's Gone
An untitled song by Matt that sounds like Surf's Up by the Beach Boys

Other contenders:

Longest Day
Too Late In The Game (I think that's the title?!)
Caspar & Evelyn
Hester & Alison

It's gonna be vastly different than the last record, and will better represent what we do on stage these days. If you want a preview, there are some of these tracks up on our myspace page , which we recorded live on KEXP. Other than that, my version of Roadtrip to Disaster, Dumb Angel and Just Like That, She's Gone are on my RPM page.

Sorry I have not posted in a while, I promise that now that Feb. is over, I will be more frequent with my rambles.

All the news that's fit to print...

2008-02-12T05:00:00.000-08:00

Howdy loyal readers (all two of you - myself included.)

Life has been busy as usual, so here's the scoop:

My sister visited Seattle this last weekend, and we had a very low-key weekend, which consisted of watching the baby and... well, watching the baby. It was great to see her, as I hardly ever get the chance to spend time with her. On a funny note, I experienced "silence in stereo", as there were two people silently glued to their laptops in the apartment at once. Usually, I'm used to "silence in mono", as Melissa is the sole lap-topper. Not that I mind people soaking up the wifi when I'm around, it's just that us desk-toppers can't get away with sitting at our computers for hours on end, as we look like we are shutting out the world. Granted, my back is to the room when I'm computering, but lap-toppers still get that vacant computer brain when they are computering. You know what I mean, right? It's those conversations that go like this:

You: Hey there, I'm having a crisis about this or that, can you help? Oh, by the way, the meaning of life is _____ . Um, the house is on fire and shit, we should get out. Would you like a snack?

Computerizer: Silence.

You: I was wondering if you noticed that elephants were trampling the grass outside. I think the carpet just grew teeth and bit me. Have you seen our flamethrower?

Computerizer: (spoken slowly) Uh huh, what was that?

You: Man, I just ate a whole jar of mayo. Have you seen my galeptigizoink?

Computerizer: (spoken even more slowly) Uh huh.

So, I experienced that in stereo. I recognize that everyone needs to be online these days, but laptops are just unfair about it. The convenience of it all is amazing, but the down-side is that when I'm on the computer, I look like I'm "doing something" and I don't want to be disturbed. While this should be true for lap-toppers, they are just lounging about and somehow my brain thinks that they are still "available" mentally. Okay, all this comes down to is that I'm jealous of laptops. I've always wanted one, but have never had one. There, I said it.

Anywhen, we caucused this weekend (as did all of the boys from Obama For You nee Curtains For You.) They moved our precinct place from one school to another, and neglected to tell us until we were at the old school place (whoa... a double entendre!) The whole affair lasted over two hours, and Annabel was PERFECT! She was stepping out in her "President Poopyhead" outfit, complete with an Obama sticker. Needless to say, the delegate split was 4 Obama and 1 Clinton. I was a bit torn before the vote, and had an issues prep-talk with Melissa on the way over to the caucus. We are both a bit miffed at Obama's civil unions but no gay-marriage stance, but we both chose Obama for other issues. Melissa was concerned that I might go McCain, as I have total and utter respect for the man, but I did my duty to the Dems and stayed in line with my party. Truth be told, I was this close to voting for McCain in 2000. Shhh, don't let that cat out of the bag. Wowzers, a West Coast Democrat who is ballsy enough to say that he almost voted Republican once. I can hear the marching hiking boots and the soft swish of fleece from the lynch mob already...

Doo-be-doo, here's a picture of Annabel that was posted on the West Seattle Blog . Photo (per usual) credited to Melissa of fine-photo fame.

Isn't she cute?

In music news, RPM was on hold due to my sister's visit, but 7 out of 10 ain't bad. I'll get it done. Curtains had a rehearsal last night where we recorded roughs of the new album. We also worked on a new song of Matt's, where I get to play bass. BASS! Huzzah, I finally get to play another instrument on stage. I've never played bass live, and I'm going to make sure to make the most of my stand-up time on stage. I move around a ton when I'm playing guitar on stage (and yes, it's been a LONG time since doing that,) but I refuse to stand up while playing piano. Nothing says "never-been-laid-mouth-breather" more than standing up to play keyboards.

Case in point, pick out the keyboard player in this line-up

Oh yeah, he's the not-so-badass one on the left. And yes, he stands the whole time he is playing on screen. GRRRRRR...

RPM Update

2008-02-04T22:40:00.000-08:00

Well, things are going swell in recording land. I've got 6-7 tracks down (depending on how I count one song that is a medley of two really.) I set up a new myspace page for the songs. It can be found here . It feels great to be recording again. I am anxious to hear what others are doing for this challenge.

In other news, this caught my interest. I am a sucker for the X-Men, and any cartoon involving them is pretty fun. This one looks like a cross between Evolution (for looks) the movies (for some plot details), and the old '90s one (for comic-accuracy). It really looks as if the characters designed for Evolution have aged. I always liked the design for Evolution, but hated that is was basically Saved by the Bell with my favorite comic book heroes. Let's hope that it turns out differently this time. It looks great so far, and I am anxious now. Look, someone just talked about somethign remotely fanboyish online and was not negative about it! WHOA!!!

RPM Revvin' up

2008-01-31T09:59:00.000-08:00

Well, tomorrow starts the RPM Challenge 2008. For those of you who do not know what the challenge is all about, it is a call for artists to record an album of at least 10 songs or 35 minutes in the month of February. It's not a contest (as if it were, no one would seriously limit their work to one month,) instead it is more of a way to get songwriters/bands off of their duffs. My buddy, Patrick, turned me on to this whole thing. He's stuck in the umpteenth year of recording a triple album, and this is his way to clear that log-jam. For me, it comes down to learning how to write/record at home with the baby. There's no way that I will have a huge amount of time to do this, but I'll make my best go of it. The thing that most intrigues me about this challenge is that people from all over the world are doing it for so many good reasons. Aside from the aforementioned "get off your duff " stuff, people have some pretty compelling reasons to put music first for one month of the year. I'll keep you posted...

In other news, yesterday was Melissa's birthday, and we headed out to see Juno up in Ballard. The actress that played Juno looked familiar, and it did not hit me why until I filled up my mug at work. The mug has all sorts of comic book pictures on it, including Kitty Pryde from the X-Men, which solved the mystery, as she played Kitty in the X3 movie. Anyway, back to the movie - we both laughed when the guy next to us made some weird growly sort of noise. He also kept belching loudly the whole time. Gotta love going to the movies! Anywho, we both really enjoyed it. Afterward, we headed to a little place called Hazlewood on Market street. As advertised, it was impossible to find, but once we found it, it was pretty cozy.

Nilsson Mania!

2008-01-22T10:40:00.000-08:00

As of late, I have been rekindling my obsession with Harry Nilsson. The little blurb about Curtains in The Stranger got me back on the Nilsson track. The other day, I was saying to Melissa that, without a doubt, Nilsson is the artist who most influences the songwriting of the band. Matt and I are card-carrying disciples of Harry. In assembling all of our latest material for this next album, one thing keeps coming back in, and that is Nilsson. In going through my own material as of late, I have noticed that most of the piano work is directly inspired by those early albums of his. Matt has been making huge strides in learning the piano, and his piano driven work is very Nilsson as well. Just what is it about his body of work that is inspiring us so much? Let's dissect...

When Lennon said that Harry was the Beatles' favorite singer/songwriter, or (I'm bastardizing the quote) the Beatle across the water, he was dead on in his analysis. Nilsson was a one man Beatles in so many ways. The huge difference in their styles was that Nilsson embraced more of pop music's past than the Beatles. He added a certain panache and grace to '60s pop by maintaining the sound of tin pan alley and vaudeville. Even up to the last albums of his career (Knillssonn anyone?), he kept refining the sound of pop while still viewing it through the lens of popular music from the early half of the 20th century. While not our intention initially, Curtains For You has become something of an extension of Harry's skewed view of pop music. When people ask me what kind of music we play, the response is always "...umm, something like The Beatles, but different." The more I think about it, it should be " Something like The Beatles, along the lines of what Nilsson did."

Out of all of this, I am reminded of the fact that his final album has never been released. He finished recording the vocals the day before he died, and we still don't have it. Also, we are missing huge segments of his music on CD. His catalog reminds me of the way that Badfinger's music has been treated. We need someone who is passionate about the music of said artists to step in and arrange for proper re-releases with bonus tracks and liner notes for ALL of their albums. Sure, a couple of albums from each have been done this way, but there needs to be a proper re-release of these:

For those with a nose for the news...

2008-01-10T17:30:00.000-08:00

I was grabbing my morning coffee at Easy Street Records, whence I came upon a copy of the new Stranger. As is my routine, I started by perusing the music section. Lo and behold, I stumbled upon page 46. Guess who is the Stranger's band of the week? Hmm? In a small box containing a photo (by one very talented photographer named Melissa, I might add,) the Stranger had this to say:

"Given that the whole '70s-pop/vaudevillian/Harry Nilsson thing is big right now (right?), it's a good time to get turned on to Curtains For You, a local pop band claiming to find inspiration in Harry Nilsson, Rufus Wainwright, and the Beach Boys. It's a pretty grown-up version of some of the stuff that's big with the kids right now (e.g., Kay Kay and His Weathered Underground), but it's got a catchy, wistful attitude with piano-bar playfulness and croons about being fucked up. They play the part of vintage poppers, that's for sure. I bet they even wear suits and ties to practice."

Simply marvy my friends, simply marvy!

Ah, Sunday...

2008-01-06T15:51:00.000-08:00

It's been a while, so here are the haps:

I've been out sick with some kind of stomach-flu type deal, but have recovered significantly. This was one strange illness, replete with shivery-fevers and all. I basically lost a whole day and a half to sleep, which was not so bad. Since Wednesday, I've lost around 6 pounds, which is a direct result of not eating for two days. What fun! Anywho, all is better now, and I'm back to normal. Well, almost normal, as during the fever, I bit my tongue quite hard in two places. Talking/eating hurts, but I can still drink coffee... huzzah!

Melissa returned to work on Friday, so it was go time with the baby. I'm proud to say that we all survived, and I even managed to get some housework done during it all. Annabel was decent enough to let me talk with my buddy Darren for nearly an hour. It was great catching up with my favorite Atlanta resident. It's hard to believe that he was last out here two years ago around this time. Man, how life has changed. It is harder still to think that his son, Khirgan, is going to be 6 years old soon. Damn, time flies.

Speaking of time, if anyone has some extra, can you send it over here? Melissa and I have a metric tonne of books to read after the holidays. I've started a few, but there are so many in stacks around the house. First off, I need to finish "Essential X-Men : Volume 8". That's the utmost priority. After that, anything goes.

Doo-be-doo, back to life...

Post Birthday Wrap-Up

2007-12-29T12:37:00.000-08:00

Ah, another birthday flies by. I spent the day "doing whatever I want" (per Melissa's orders,) and as such, I played Call of Duty 4 until my eyes bled. As evening approached, the urge to leave the house kicked in. We started off the evening in a cab headed to the Beveridge Place Pub, and on the way we hit a raccoon. Quite a start! Melissa, Matthew, Heidi, and I settled into the couches and ordered a pizza. The best thing about that place is that they encourage you to bring food in. Heck, they even have take-out menus in a binder for your perusal. Matt, Angela, and Mikey ambled in after the pizza arrived, and we had a swell evening of trivia and a couple of rounds of pool. We ended the evening sitting in the living room with Heidi, Matthew, Grandma, Annabel, Melissa, and I watching infomercials for Midnight Special and the TimeLife Soft Rock compilation until 2 in the morning. All in all, a fine time!

On the music front, Matthew and Angela provided me with a brand new lyric book for the new year. I had to rebind my old one recently, so the gift was very welcome. On the book front, I've just started reading " World War Z", which was gifted to me yesterday by Melissa. I enjoyed Max Brooks' previous zombie effort, and am hoping that this one will be great. God, I love zombie anything...

Oasis and Brian Wilson in the same post... strange

2007-12-27T14:13:00.000-08:00

Well, as the title suggests, I've been listening to Oasis pretty heavily lately. I guess the fact that they are in the studio and under a new contract is bringing them back in my mind. I have been spending some time re-evaluating Standing On the Shoulder of Giants(sic). The "sic" comes from the fact that the Newton quote is actually "... on the shoulders of giants.", but Noel was drunk when he saw it, and wrote it down as "Standing On the Shoulder of Giants - a bum title." That is pretty frickin' hilarious that he kept it. Anywho, I listened to that album twice this week, and today checked out Heathen Chemsitry again. All in all, they are somewhat lazy albums, but have aged better than I remembered them. SOtSoG is over-the-top psychedelic. I saw them on that tour, and remember them having a keyboard player bashing away at a mellotron in the background of the stage. I think it must have been Jay Darlington (of Kula Shaker... more on that later,) as he played on almost all of their albums including the one they are recording now. Aside from that ramble, listening with fresh ears, the album sounds pretty refreshing. Additionally, Heathen Chemistry comes off as very solid, but surprisingly, Noel is the worst songwriter on that effort. Normally I'm all about Noel, but Liam showed him up right proper on that album. Scary, that!

By the way, here's a shot from the proceedings for the 7th studio album by the lads. Notice a very Ringo-like Zak Starkey to the right:

Back to the aforementioned Kula Shaker, their album Strangefolk arrives on this side of the pond in a month or two, and I am damn excited. I downloaded their new EP from iTunes, and cannot wait until the LP comes out here. I'll be damned if I'm gonna order that import from Easy Street, ex-employee discount and all! I saw them at the Metro in Chicago on one of their last gigs before they broke up, and truly miss their increasingly cranky Harrisonesque music. To tie it all together, Jay Darlington no longer plays with them. That's a shame, as he really added a ton to their sound.

As for Mr. Wilson (Dennis!), he is going to be recording That Lucky Old Sun in January. I've yet to download a bootleg of the recent performance, but anything involving Wilson and Wondermints, and I'm sold. Yes, I admit that the Christmas album was almost total ass, but it still sounded great. To be honest, I would love a new Wondermints album, but they are taking one for the team by keeping Brian performing, writing, and healthy. I've yet to track down if they played on "Speed Turtle" with him, but I'm sure some trolling of the usual haunts will turn something up.

Doo-be-do, back to it...

One more thing...

2007-12-26T16:52:00.001-08:00

"Now and Then" is still being buzzed about by Beatle bees online.

After Christmas Ramble

2007-12-26T16:21:00.000-08:00

Howdy all! I trust that your December festivities went well. My Christmas was nice and relaxed. Melissa, Annabel, and I went to grandma's house to bury the baby in presents. First and foremost, the baby ended up with a beautiful red-lacquer toy piano. Sure, she's three months old, but one has to start somewhere. Something tells me that pops will be recording with it very soon... wait, he already has been recording with it. Musically, I ended up getting "Can't Buy Me Love : The Beatles, Britain, and America" along with "Inside the Music of Brian Wilson: The Songs, Sounds and Influences of the Beach Boys' Founding Genius". Both look great, and the Wilson book looks technical. Very technical. Since I enjoy that sort of thing (instead of the fluff pieces that most music related books are,) I am really excited to rip into that one. Also of note was the HD DVD add-on for my Xbox 360. I've yet to make it home to set it up, but it will soon be happily married to our HDTV.

Life has been very busy of late, but Melissa and I soldiered through the holidays and are looking toward having some downtime soon. I snuck in a some pre-Christmas music by doing some session work at Avast! 2, here in Seattle. They have a beautiful grand piano up there, and the cavernous studio-B is... well... cavernously huge. It's mind-blowingly fun playing on the piano that was used on the Shin's second record. It was my first time in that studio, and it is a beautiful, spacious, and relaxing place to record music.

Speaking of recording music, I promise that I will actually get out some demos of my newer material one of these days. I am trying to find the time to record the bevy of tunes rolling around in my head before I forget them. Here's a list of what's coming up soon (hopefully!)

- "Roadtrip to Disaster" Kind of a distillation of everything that I love about 60s music in one song. Curtains is working on this one for live use as we speak.

- "Selling the Future" A very simple folk-style song (possibly corrupted with synth drums... shudder) involving the parallel stories of (lonely) Sylvia and (broken businessman) Tim.

- "Dumb Angel" A pretty little song full of community-based hatred and such. Fun!

- "The Ballad of Molly McGinty" As it sounds from the title, it is a traditional shanty. It concerns a woman who supports the forgotten street children of her town by stripping! It involves such splendid topics as murder, homelessness, and pneumonia! Fun!

- "Sal & Ramona" Yes, I will finish this one this year, I promise. It involves the named old couple. It now has the addition of another song being stapled to the front of it, called, "Sal's Wild Years". The transition between the two is "The Man On the Flying Trapeze", as it fits well and is public domain. All in all, it will be around 10 minutes or so.

Other than that, not much is happening musically. We are on a nice vacation from practicing right now, but will be playing a show at the Seattle Art Museum on the 3rd of January. Come on down!

Beatles Reunited (sort of)

2007-12-22T15:36:00.000-08:00

Well, let's just dig in, shall we? You know, recently I have seen a synergistic batch of postings about the possibility of Paul and/or Ringo going back to "Now & Then" and finishing it up as a new Beatles track. This sent me back into a project that I have had brewing for about 7 years now. So many people have attempted to asuage that ache for "what-ifs" for the band. What if they never broke up? What if they kept working together throughout the 70s? What if Lennon was not murdered? What if John and Paul decided to go down to Saturday Night Live that one night? Well, I am mostly concerned with making 70s Beatles albums. Yeah, this is a total theoretical piece of bullshit, but you can do whatever you like with your time and CD burner, okay?

Years ago, at the dawn of the inter-web, I actually posted some of my track-lists and fake album covers. Upon hearing of the desire to release a new Beatles single, I started googling my old haunts. To my surprise, I found one of my old photo-shopped covers (uncredited... but hey, who really cares) on a website that was dedicated to what the author called "slider" Beatles. Riddle me what the heck that means! Anywhen, let me give you a brief background of how far I got the last time around: (n.b. my blog, my project, my rules. If you have to take issue with my track choices/chronology screw-ups, be nice and constructive. Remember that this is for FUN, and not part of the research for your mock online thesis about the logistical foibles and chronological failings of my pet-project. Okay, rant over...)

So, I combined the solo efforts of the lads, and came up with a few albums (at least out to 1975). They went like this:

1971- Instant Karma
1972- RAM
1973- Band On the Run
1974- Beatles Live in '74
1975- Call Me Back Again

I came up with covers for most of them (at least I could find covers for a few), and intended to finish out the 70s too. For the "live " one, I edited together live material from Wings Over America, Live in NY, and Concert for Bangladesh, cross-fading performances with applause. Yeah, Ringo only gets one song ("It Don't Come Easy" - flubbed lyrics and all), but that is what I had to work with. I listened to it the other day, and it still tickles me to hear Paul finish Yesterday as George yells out thank you and launches into Something. Yes, I ha(d)ve way too much time on my hands.

Short story long, I recently became obsessed with watching the Anthology outtake DVD and listening to the Lennon "Dakota" demos. So, I compiled the 1980s one-off "reunion" album When We Was Fab. What follow is the background story. Just read along and pretend with me...

It was early 1980, and The Beatles were recording again after a nearly 5 year hiatus (due to John's wish to raise Sean). The cautious mood in the studio made the recording difficult. Could they still do it? Were they still making relevant music? The questions were all put aside when John was murdered in December of the year. The unfinished album was to be called Return to Pepperland, but the idea was shelved in the horror-filled days after the loss of Lennon. The tapes lay unfinished until 1987, when inevitable rumblings in the press culminated in the leaking of the unreleased track, "Return to Pepperland". Critics and listeners were delighted at the "return to form" sound of the song. McCartney and Harrison were furious, and quickly assigned blame toward someone close to them. George Martin was not named outright, but the press speculated that either Martin, Geoff Emerick, or even Mark Lewisohn was to blame. Eventually, Lewisohn's tape-runners were fingered, as a glut of unreleased "bootleg" material was starting to appear in studio-quality on the new CD format. The band closed-ranks and fired/sued those involved. For the next 5 years, the project would sit untouched. The band rarely was seen in public, and a media crack-down was followed by almost total seclusion from the world by George.

In 1992, the band mended fences within the camp, and got to work on what would become the Anthology film. Unbeknownst to the public, work was secretly begun on finishing the aborted album. At this point, with the title track leaked, the three surviving Beatles decided to refocus on finishing the unfinished songs and re-recording some songs. Buoyed by the quality of Lennon's "comeback" material, it was decided that the album would be released along with the film. In an interview with Rolling Stone in 1998, McCartney recollects "... at the time, we were very careful about letting people into our "inner-circle". Having "Return to Pepperland" sneak out was just unfair... we were very hurt. I mean people were crazy for it, but we would never have released it at that point. It shook us up... thinking that, umm, we might want to go back and sift through the tapes again." In the same article, Ringo said "It was bloody-awful. George was in a state after that. It started to feel like we were back in the Let It Be days... all meetings and everything."

After deciding to actually finish one of the most legendary unreleased albums of all time, the decision to enlist a new producer was made. Purists still argue about the choice, but former ELO front-man, Jeff Lynne, was brought in to conduct the new sessions. Lynne was obviously excited to be working with his idols, and he raced to finish the album for the film's release date. The album, almost 15 years in the making, was released in 1995 to almost universal praise. A reworked and renamed double-album, When We Was Fab, was hailed as "the most mature rock album ever made." by SPIN Magazine. Rolling Stone praised it as "a complete and utter masterpiece. Every song speaks to the deep loss of the three survivors. The long shadow of Lennon is ever-present, looming at times like an ethereal guardian over the tracks." The album shot straight to number one, and was a shoe in for Grammy-time. George Martin, initially offended by being replaced with Lynne, did come back to produce a couple of tracks, and contribute a few string arrangements to the album. Notably, McCartney's "Here Today" and Harrison's "All Those Years Ago" were heartfelt tributes to their fallen partner. Lennon's haunting "Grow Old Along With Me" closes the album as a "hidden" track. The album can be summed up by this quote from the New York Times,

"There is an implied sadness in almost every song. Even the more upbeat numbers contain a nagging and resigned sense of disillusionment. More than a cranky reaction to the horrific loss of their friend and bandmate, When We Was Fab is an emotional touchstone for the entire generation who grew up with these four lads from Liverpool. It is as if they stand above the grave of 60s culture with shovels in hand, burying the dreams and naive illusions of youth. This is an album made by grown men wholly in touch with their lives as fathers, husbands, and celebrities, while being totally at peace with their own mythology. Above all, this is a fitting swansong to an astounding career."

Here is the track list:

Disc 1
1- The Song We Were Singing
2- (Just Like) Starting Over
3- This Is Love
4- Woman
5- Somedays

6- Free As A Bird
7- King of Broken Hearts
8- When We Was Fab
9- Watching The Wheels

Disc 2

1- Flaming Pie
2- Rising Sun
3- What In The World
4- Real Love
5- Calico Skies

6- Pisces Fish
7- All Those Years Ago
8- Here Today
9- Beautiful Night
Hidden Track - Grow Old Along With Me

Bootleggers were able to find some of the original demos/tracks from the 1980 sessions for the following songs:

Beautiful Night (demo)
Flaming Pie (demo)
Return to Pepperland (full studio version)
Woman (acoustic demo)
Watching the Wheels (acoustic demo)
Real Love (demo)
Free as a Bird (demo)

So, that is one project that you can try for yourself. Artwork to follow...

Let me know what you think!